Sette Flite vs Giant Trance X2

I am posting up for a friend who can't decide what to get(No, this friend is not myself). A used 2009 Trance X2 for a $1400 or the Flite from price point fro $1200. He's wants to get into the sport but is not sure. I recommended the Trance only because I have ridden it before. How does the climbing aspect compare between the two??

Hard Call I think. The Trance has better parts but will lack a warranty, and could have unknown problems. The Flite will be new, and will have a 5 year frame warranty and the Manufacturers warranty on all the other parts. You will have to assemble the Flite which might not be a big deal.

If you go check out the Trance and it all checks out and it need 0 work, then its probably the better bike. If it needs any work, I would skip it and get the new bike.

The Flite is being discontinued and we don't know yet how PP will be handing the warranties on it. I spoke to the CS guy today and he said they are looking at a bunch of potential replacements for the Flite. Would be interesting to see what they go with.

Never ridden the Trance but everybody and their dog raves about the Maestro suspension.
The Flite climbs fine with the flood gate closed. I keep the gate closed most of the time since it opens up to absorb small bumps. The Trance might be a bit more efficient though. Plus the Flite is on the heavier side.

The Flite has the burliness going for it. Riding it feels like you're cruising down on a 1942 German tank from WWII. In a good way. Very rugged and plush. Not a super fast bike, but a super fun bike.

Maybe your buddy can haggle a bit more to get the Trance down to $1200?
Hard to say about used bikes since you really don't know if they were ridden hard or not.

So in summary:

- Trance if he can get it for a lower price and knows for sure the bike is in perfect working order.

- Flite if you have suspicions about the Trance.

Or even better yet, Pay the $1400 and get the BMC Trailfox 02 from competitive cyclist. A killer bike design with nice components. Never ridden it but I would buy it in a second if I didn't have the Flite already.

Or even better yet, Pay the $1400 and get the BMC Trailfox 02 from competitive cyclist. A killer bike design with nice components. Never ridden it but I would buy it in a second if I didn't have the Flite already.

the trance is best compared to the ace just a bit plusher which in turn makes it not as good of a climber as the ace.

I find my Trance X3 to be a better technical and rollercoaster climber than my ACE ever was (grip wise). The front of the trance wanders on veeery steep climbs tho. But isn't this a Flite comparison? Never ridden a flite but I don't think it should be compared to the 120mm trance (apples to oranges). 1400 for an 09 X2 is killer and even though I do all my own work, I would be leery of dropping that amount of coin on a used bike unless I had support.